Present Group

"The resource sector expansion has provided opportunities for Present Group that has resulted in explosive growth. As our business developed, so too has the requirement for a robust ERP solution."

Peter Midgley, CXO | Present Group

The Challenge

Present Group experienced unprecedented growth as a result of the primary resource sector expansion in Australia. They clearly needed an ERP system to meet their current transactional volumes, but they also needed one which would provide the flexibility to serve their future needs and adapt to the continually changing business environment.

To be able to work seamlessly as part of a business process eco-system

To have a partnership based on trust, accessibility and understanding

To adopt a licensing model which supported rapid business growth

To offer functionality that catered for growth complexity, not just volumes

Choosing to implement Epicor ERP

Epicor service-oriented architecture (SOA) played an important part in Present Group choosing the Epicor technology over competitor offerings. Epicor ERP is built on next-generation technology allowing its customers to adapt the technology to future proof against as yet unknown requirements.

Midgley explained, "SOA enabled us to build a business process ecosystem of Epicor ERP, CRM, HCM, SharePoint, Analytics, NewsGator and Nintex across a fully cloud computing based infrastructure. The ability of Epicor ERP to readily deploy as web-parts means that all we have to have to open a new office is a browser. Any one of our technicians in the field, armed only with an iPad, can have equal access to our corporate systems as would any of our head office based staff."

"We looked at all the players in the market and did an extensive analysis of the available solutions. We were fortunate to have a wealth of ERP implementation experience in our management team. To some extent this made us some vendors' worst nightmare-an informed buyer! Almost by a process of attrition, the shortfalls of competitor products to cater for our future needs became evident.

Epicor kept coming back, kept getting better and continued to take an interest in our needs," said Midgley. "Another winner was the willingness of our senior management to engage in the process and try and make the ERP and the overall process eco-system work in harmony with each other. The nature of Epicor's senior management had a lot to do with our decision. They listened to our requirements and they understood our business aspirations. They explained to us their own business aspirations and we found a unity of purpose between their objectives and ours. They were interested in understanding our business and working with us to address our need - their success was equated with our success."

Present Group knew they would benefit from establishing a partnership with an ERP vendor that was also looking to establish a long-term business relationship and who shared their own aspirations for success and growth. Accessibility to Epicor's key executives, globally and regionally, was a benefit for Present Group's own executives and management team during the implementation process.

"Epicor is a midmarket player which gave us accessibility to the top people. There is no way we would have had this type of access with some of the other software companies we were talking to. We met with Epicor President and CEO Pervez Qureshi when he was in Australia for the regional customer conference. We discussed our strategy to make Epicor capability central to our business offerings, not just a passive technological capability. We have a far greater business relationship with Epicor than simply using the software.

Implementing Epicor was an investment with cost savings, but more than this it has become an important partner in establishing a competitive advantage and our relationship with Epicor is part of that competitive strategy," said Midgley.

Rolling out Epicor ERP

Present Group is rolling out the Epicor ERP system over a number of phases. "The first phase of the implementation was focussed on achieving accurate and timely invoicing. That was the payback. Hot on the heels of phase one was HCM, CRM, Field Services and Asset Management. The tipping point after this will be an almost 100% deployment using multi-platform Web-parts. Once we are satisfied with this internally, we will be able to extend this functionality to our clients," explains Midgley.

"This is an entirely new business model both for Epicor and ourselves. It is a testament to Epicor that they embrace the opportunities available in this model with us, rather than perceiving it as a threat."

"We have a constant appetite for more with Epicor, but because they have taken the time to understand our needs they make sure that we don't become our own worst enemy, implementing components early on which shouldn't be implemented until later. They are looking for a relationship, not just a quick sale. Technology is their business, not ours, and we can trust them," says Midgley.

Choosing a flexible licensing model

The Epicor ERP and family of modules met all the current and likely future, requirements of Present Group. In addition to technological flexibility, Epicor offered commercial flexibility in the form of a concurrent user licensing model which would not impede growth and organisational mobility.

Midgley explains, "A key differentiator we saw with Epicor was the benefits offered by a concurrent-user licensing model as opposed to an end-user licensing model. If we were to remain a small to medium sized enterprise there wouldn't be a great deal of difference, however, if we continue on the trajectory of growth that we are currently experiencing, the concurrent model leaves their competitors in the dust. The licensing structure doesn't become an impediment to growth. It allows us to have many casual users on the system and we don't have to worry about costs when we grow our head count. This reflects the reality of the way we are doing business and the flexibility it provides was the final decider in the ERP selection process."

The benefit of mobility

With mobile solutions from Epicor, businesses can support more customers, transactions, and products, and maintain a wider range of business partner relationships. Epicor's mobile solutions securely and cost-effectively distribute and automate subsets of existing enterprise business systems outside of the company network - whether connected or remote.

Midgley discusses Epicor as an enabler of mobility, "Epicor supports our desires for mobility. Our business is not based on a monolithic head office. If we want to open up an office all we need is someone in there with a browser. It gives us agility, it gives us speed of implementation, it gives us adaptation, and it is reconfigurable, allowing us to meet the needs of the new geographies we move into.

"For most other vendors we investigated, their ERP model was to put the software at the centre. Epicor allows us to have the centre wherever the activity is, so the centre is nowhere and everywhere. Epicor supports our agility, mobility and flexibility aspirations, something other products weren't going to enable us to do. This is critical for a geographically dispersed business such as ours in maintaining social cohesion, enabling everyone to feel connected and part of the whole."

About Epicor

Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industries. With more than 40 years of experience, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Epicor solutions enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry expertise, and passion for excellence, Epicor inspires customers to build lasting competitive advantage. Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional, and global businesses demand.For more information, visit www.epicor.com.

Success Highlights:

Challenges

To have a partnership based on trust, accessibility and understandin

To adopt a licensing model which supported rapid business growt

To offer functionality that catered for growth complexity, not just volumes

Solution

Epicor ERP

Benefits

Epicor ERP is built on next-generation technology allowing its customers to adapt the technology to future proof against as yet unknown requirement